Chapter

8

Putting It All Together: The Chief Crisis Officer in Action

This chapter is shorter than the rest, but there’s a reason for that.

With a thorough grounding in the structure, leadership, and technology needed to make your crisis communications program a success, I wanted to devote this final chapter to a single hypothetical example of what I view as the ideal crisis communications response.

In the pages of Chief Crisis Officer, we’ve learned quite a bit: Why effective crisis communications is so important, who the right Chief Crisis Officer is, the team and plan that should be in place for effective crisis response, and the tools and technology that make it all work. Now let’s put it all together.

After our example, we’ll consider some final lessons that can be applied to crises of any kind, whether physical or virtual, real-time or regulatory, exploding or unfolding. We’ll look at the common objections that corporate executives often use to avoid proper crisis response planning and the need to adjust your plan as the circumstances warrant. Like a boxer heading into the ring or a General heading into battle, the Chief Crisis Officer knows that he or she is going to take some lumps, but understands that—with the proper training and technique—they can withstand any assault and emerge the victor.

 

Building on everything we’ve learned in previous chapters, let’s imagine an organization’s Chief Crisis Officer leading his or her team through the initial stages of a state-of-the-art crisis communications response. Working from a well-conceived and accessible crisis communications plan, with all of the tools and resources in place and updated, we will model the execution of crisis response protocols working smoothly, efficiently, and decisively as a crisis event moves forward.

Nothing is ever this perfect, of course, but for the purposes of this hypothetical, we’re modeling the ideal response. Bear with me … there will be plenty for cynics to chew on further along in this chapter.

For this exercise, we will use a scenario that is difficult to think about, but one that is all too common in our business and personal lives these days: the Active Shooter. You are the Chief Crisis Officer of a retail store chain, designated by your company to lead the organization’s response to unexpected events with negative reputational ramifications. You’ve worked hard to develop a crisis plan for your company that is a true action plan for responding to a variety of scenarios, including an active shooter.

We will also assume that you’ve availed yourself to a cutting-edge technological solution for collaboration and the creation of response materials, as discussed in Chapter 7. You’ve got a crisis communications machine hitting on all eight (going back to when there were eight-cylinder cars) … and you are about to use it.

Active Shooter!

It’s Monday morning; you’re sitting in your office, staring at an Excel spreadsheet. It’s 11:30 a.m., and you need to get a better handle on these budget numbers for a meeting taking place just after lunch. Some of your team’s numbers just don’t make sense. You scratch your head and lean back in your chair.

The first email comes in from the head of security for the company:

Jim,

We’ve got a situation at our store in Phoenix. Gunshots. Police on scene. Active shooter—may still be underway. Don’t know more, but we need to be ready.

Phil

Gunshots … crap! This could be a bad one. You let the budget committee members know that you won’t be making the meeting this afternoon.

Significantly, you already trained for this type of situation at an off-site crisis communications retreat with video-conference connections from the other regions of the company. “Active shooter” was one of those scenarios you trained for, although at the time, quite frankly, you didn’t feel like going. Now you’re happy you did.

The first step is your crisis plan. You access your crisis plan immediately.* You review an initial checklist for an active shooter scenario. It tells you to do two things immediately: Assemble the team and collect information at the scene so that you can understand exactly what is happening. You are on it.

In your crisis plan, you have a matrix of key contacts throughout your company for the various types of crises your organization might face. “Active Shooter” is easy to find. Phil (the head of security who sent you that email) is one of the members of your core crisis communications team. You also have the regional vice president covering the retail location in Phoenix, a company lawyer, and two members of the company’s public relations team (one of whom is your expert on social media). There may be some vacations in there, but at least you know who you are after.

Using your company’s crisis management software, you immediately notify the team and gather them together virtually. Each member of your core crisis communications team receives an email and a text alerting them to the crisis and telling them to sign on to the crisis communications tool for response. You give a short description of what has happened: “There’s been a shooting at our store in Phoenix. We have no information yet, but need to be ready to respond.”

Within a few minutes, messages and details are already beginning to stream into the system from both the crisis location and other members of the team (who are spread out across the country).

As mentioned, the Active Shooter checklist in your crisis plan tells you must do one other thing immediately: You need to start getting a steady stream of accurate information from the crisis site—the “front lines”—to make the right decisions about the proper level of response. (At various points in this book, we’ve discussed the importance of getting the proper information in the initial stages of a crisis, as it’s been my experience that that the first information you get on any crisis is mostly wrong.) You immediately communicate with the regional vice president on your crisis team—Sally Jones—who’s charged with the responsibility of getting exactly that information stream going. She says she’ll get on it and within a few minutes you have the assistant general manager at the store location in question providing details from the scene.

Ideally, your crisis communications software has eliminated the confusing flow of overlapping emails that you’ve seen during past company crises, which often led to chaos in the opening stages of the event, as bits-and-pieces of information dribbled in to various members of the crisis team amidst the reams of email that fill each member’s inbox each day. With your new crisis plan and protocols in place, the team is already working, and it’s only a few minutes into the actual crisis.

Next, according to the checklist, you need to get control over the site of the crisis—not just from a physical standpoint, but from a PR standpoint as well. Store security is already working with local law enforcement and other first responders. Phil, your national security director, reports that he’s in contact with both local police and your own personnel.

The latest news from the scene: Customers and employees may still be in the store. There’s no information on fatalities. It’s an active shooter situation, so the danger appears to be ongoing. No word yet whether it is a robbery, an incident of terrorism, employee-driven workplace violence, or some other issue.

Sally Jones posts a message to alert the team that media has already begun showing up at the site. The flow of communications needs to be established immediately to both the media on the scene and those calling the local store and your headquarters in Dallas. Reporters should not be walking around the crisis site indiscriminately, gathering a detail here and fact there, out-of-context, and broadcasting it on Twitter or Facebook. This could give the public a highly distorted view of what is happening.

There’s no local PR person on-site at the store in Phoenix, so—per the crisis plan—the assistant general manager, Herb, has been designated to identify the media onsite, reach out to them, and begin the process of getting them the right information on what is occurring and what might happen next. Access to the store has been cut off, but your manager on-scene can see the crisis plan and checklists via his smartphone and is collaborating with you and the crisis communications team for guidance on what to do next.

Herb, you write on the crisis communications portal, Phil tells me law enforcement has locked down the scene? From a PR perspective, we need to make sure media, employees, and others aren’t roaming around while all this is going on. We also need a location to interact with media so that we can get them information when it becomes available.

Herb replies less than a minute later:

Site’s been locked down by Phoenix PD. Store wasn’t open yet—all employees were evacuated through the rear doors. We’re pushing media back and asking all media to remain at the north end of the facility so that they can receive information as it becomes available. Phil is also coordinating with local police, so they know exactly what we’re doing. We’ll have more as soon as we get it.

At nearly the same time, a post from Phil gives the entire team the first concrete details of the actual shooting:

Just spoke with local P.D. There was a radio station event setting up at this location this morning as part of a local charity promotion. Someone walked up and just started shooting. Latest information is that shooter is still at-large. Three people shot, including an employee and one of the hosts. No word on fatalities, but not good.

Not good indeed.

Given the severity of the situation, you know two things: You must get something out on social media quickly and the CEO and executive leadership team needs to understand the situation.

First, you contact the executive team, starting with your CEO, Sue Miller. At some organizations, a couple of levels of management are between the Chief Crisis Officer and the CEO, but not here. You’ve made sure of that. You get the CEO’s assistant immediately and reach the CEO within minutes. Per the crisis protocol, she brings in the COO, Joe Harper, via conference call.

You inform them of the situation and what you know thus far. They ask that Joe Harper be added to the collaboration software to monitor developments for the CEO. You do that.

Monitoring! That’s next on your list. You assign two staffers in your office with the immediate task of monitoring both social media and local news radio in Phoenix, as well as other media websites that might pick up the story first. A few Tweets have already appeared—some from the general public and one from a local television news station in Phoenix that Tweeted:

Reports of a shooting at a local retailer. @Action11Phoenix is on our way and will report from the scene shortly.

This brings you to the next item on your checklist: social media. On the company’s crisis communications portal, you post:

What’s our social media strategy?

Jeff Hunt, your social point person, writes back immediately:

We need a Tweet right away, per the crisis plan. Also need to consider Facebook. We’ll need to activate the dark site on our website as well for emergency information and to give us a place to direct the public for information. We have no idea how long this situation is going to last, so we may need multiple updates.

You respond:

Go for it. But Phil—you’ll need to make sure the police and first responders on the scene know and are comfortable with what we are saying.

Phil jumps back into the conversation:

Absolutely. I’ll show the police commander the draft statement on my smartphone as soon as it is uploaded to our crisis communications site. He knows it’s coming. No problem.

Next, you must provide a statement. From the crisis plan’s online resources, you search for a template that will serve as the model for the company’s first public response to the shooting. It is very short and simple—since facts have not been confirmed at this point, you will only report on what you know. You’ve learned it’s critical not to speculate. It’s a fine line, but even a statement that doesn’t say much sends a message: The company is aware of the crisis, on the scene, and collecting information and will report back to the public as soon as possible.

Here’s the template you find on your crisis communications site:

This [morning/afternoon/evening], there was a shooting at our facility in [LOCATION].

[DESCRIBE WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE SHOOTING AND THE RESOLUTION OF THE INCIDENT].

[DESCRIBE WHAT IS CURRENTLY KNOWN ABOUT INJURIES OR FATALITIES].

Police and emergency response crews have responded and are investigating. The facility remains closed to both the public and our employees.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim(s) and [his/her/their] family(ies) at this time.

We are working closely with law enforcement officials and will continue to update the public as more information becomes available.

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With a few edits, this message will be ready for upload to the crisis communications portal for review by the CEO and COO before posting on the site. The final looks like this:

This morning there was a shooting at our retail store at 1000 Anywhere Drive in Phoenix, Arizona.

Initial reports indicate that the shooting occurred as a radio station was preparing to broadcast from outside our store. Police indicate that this is an active crime scene and there are injuries

Police and emergency response crews have responded and are investigating. The store remains closed to both the public and our employees.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families at this time. We are working closely with law enforcement officials and will continue to update the public as more information becomes available.

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The message is complete and approved. Herb will also download the statement on-scene and make it available to local media that have convened on site. Meanwhile, Jeff finds a template Tweet on the portal. With minimal editing, the first Tweet is out:

There has been a shooting at our store in Phoenix, with injuries. We have few details, but will alert the public as soon as we can. Go to http://tinyurl.com/psbab4o for updates.

A similar short statement is created to post on the company’s Facebook page.

Less than 20 minutes have passed since that first hurried email from the security director, and you have reassured the public that you are aware of the incident, in control, and thinking about the victims, their families, your customers, and you employees. This prevents a small crisis from becoming a big one and reinforces the reputation of your company as caring, responsive, and prepared.

Now that you’ve coordinated effectively with the team and gotten your first public communication out there, you need to start thinking about what comes next: An active shooter may be on the loose near your store; there may be fatalities; or more may be happening on site. This is a very fluid situation—it could only be the beginning of a very long afternoon. Just as you are thinking that, a new message from Phil is posted on your crisis communications site:

Ok, new update from Phoenix P.D. This information has been confirmed: Suspect has been apprehended—he was hiding in the store. P.D. reports it was a small caliber handgun used in the attack. Two people were shot, not three: a disk jockey and a production assistant. No employees of our company were hit, although one was injured in the melee. A medical crew is on the scene—the injuries are not life threatening. No motive yet, but the shooter appears to have known at least one of the radio station employees.

This message provides some additional clarity, and thank God the situation wasn’t worse. The active incident is over, although you suspect it will be a day or so before the store will reopen.

You must update your statement and social media posts with this information. You must then upload the updated statement to the website and send it to local media. It’s also time to send an internal email and text to employees in the region, letting them know what is happening—particularly those who were evacuated from the store and might be wondering when they can get back to work.

A final post to the crisis portal comes from your COO, Joe Harper, conveying a message from the CEO, Sue Miller:

Sue says nicely done everyone.

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“Everybody has a plan … until they get punched in the face.”

—Mike Tyson

This quote from Mike Tyson is substantially true, as is a similar quote from 19th-century German military strategist Helmuth von Moltke that states: “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”

But don’t mistake either quote as an endorsement of no planning at all. Yes, your plan may change as a result of unforeseen events or new challenges (i.e., after you get punched in the face—metaphorically, I hope), but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a plan. I’ve yet to meet a general who goes into battle without a plan, even if he or she knows the plan is going to change substantially when the bullets start flying. This is also true in crisis communications. If you do it right—as we’ve learned throughout this book—your crisis plan is a living, breathing, learning document that changes as new facts come to light, new crises are uncovered, and talent and practices perfected.

In other words, this stuff works.

Unfortunately, I often find a cynical strain of thinking in the hallowed halls of Corporate America related to crisis communications, driven by a fear of taking any steps that could influence events so chaotic and uncontrollable. A knee-jerk sense exists that:

At its worst, this negative viewpoint leads to rejection of the process entirely—from appointing a Chief Crisis Officer, to designating the core crisis communications team, to creating an effective crisis communications plan, to providing the tools, resources, and technology to properly put the plan into action.

After reading Chief Crisis Officer, I hope you take away one thing (and excuse my repetition): This stuff works.

That’s the point of the scenario above, and in the end, this book as a whole. It is the message I want to convey to the Chief Crisis Officer, his or her team, the CEO and top management at organizations that struggle with effective crisis communications response, and others who may be peripherally involved with coordinating response to negative reputational incidents—including the exploding kind of crisis outlined above or an unfolding crisis like a regulatory investigation, lawsuit, or social media rumor that threatens to undermine your company’s product or service.

So while we’re all entitled to our opinions, bear this in mind: I’ve been doing this for nearly 25 years—all day, every day. I know better. I’ve seen it over and over again, hundreds of times, at organizations of all sizes—from small businesses to the biggest of the Fortune 500.

This stuff works. It doesn’t work perfectly, and sometimes you get punched in the face. In the end, though, all of the tips, tools, and tactics contained in this book can have an enormous impact on the way a company or organization handles a crisis, which ultimately impacts their reputation, operations, and bottom line.

But, it only works if you believe. Senior management needs to be committed to this, and take steps before your next crisis to put the proper structure and leadership in place.

So find yourself a Chief Crisis Officer, assemble the core crisis communications team, develop the plan, and put the right technology in place to ensure it is accessible and actionable.

It will quite literally mean the difference between a crisis that is managed … and one that manages you.

Action Points

  • The ideal crisis communications response brings the team together in a timely and efficient manner and gives them all the tools they need to make the right communications choices even as events are unfolding before them.
  • Whether the crisis involves an active shooter, product recall, accident or legal issue, checklists, templates, and a clearly defined crisis response team eliminates the need to “make it up as you go along.”
  • Effective crisis planning works … but only if cynical attitudes are avoided and the proper priority is given to crisis planning, developing the team and utilizing technology to ensure effective response.

* If you haven’t created or subscribed to a tech solution for the management of crises, you may be using a written plan, perhaps one supplemented by the Crisis Flash Sheet described in Chapter 3, and word-processed templates stored on your company’s servers.